The two of us dozed off sometime later. I guess exhaustion kicked in. We didn't get that much sleep on the plane, between me being mad at her, us working on a new suit, and her venting about a couple of major issues. So, in hindsight, I didn't have much to complain about.

I was taken out of my sleep when I heard knocking on the door. In my ear, I heard MJ groan.

"Hey Michelangelo," Craig hollered from behind the door. "Mr. La Roux wants to talk with us in his room."

"I'll be there in a minute!" I hollered back.

"Aight!"

I sighed. Michelle placed her forearm on her chest before she propped herself up.

"Duty calls, I'm guessing," MJ said, voice raspy from slumber.

"Life as a superhero," I replied.

A couple of minutes later, we were in Scott's room. While I was still dressed in my t-shirt and grey sweatpants, MJ put on one of my pairs of jeans and a long sleeved shirt under my blue plaid button up.

"I hope all of you were able to rest well," Scott said as he looked around at all of us.

"Surprisingly, yeah," Craig replied. He then smirked devilishly. "How did you and Joanna rest?"

"Very well," Joanna replied. She leaned her shoulder into Scott's. "He's quite good with his hands." All of the American Idiots, myself included, looked straight at Scott with wide eyes. Scott, himself, looked like he would have turned bright red had it not been for his dark skin. Joanna chuckled. "Relax, everyone. He just gave me a backrub – one I really needed."

"You should feel special," Kitty commented. "Scott doesn't give backrubs to any lady."

At that, Scott cleared his throat. "Can we please get down to business?" he asked as Ned and Betty smothered a laugh behind their hands. "Anyway, we have a lead. Joanna, if you will."

"I shall, sweetie," she stated, prompting Scott to give her a glare. She chuckled a bit before a serious expression came over her face. "In all seriousness, though, I reached out to some of my contacts still within the area. There is a bar slash night club outside of Palm Springs, not too far away from here. A lot of people – especially Spring Breakers – flock to this place since they're not really strict on checking the ID of their patrons. One of the regulars there is Doug Johnson III."

"Is he a friend of yours?" I asked. At that, Joanna scoffed.

"Hardly an acquaintance, if that. He was recruited as part of Hammer Industries' security team along with me. Like me, he has a military background – U.S. Army, in his case. Allegedly, serving runs in his family. He'd brag about how his grandfather was a part of the U.S. Air Force back when it was The Army Air Corps and that said grandfather even ran some missions with Captain America back in World War II. Doug The Third and I worked together for a little bit before he was reassigned. I didn't think anything of it. He was rather forward about wanting to get into my pants, and I was this close to literally ripping his junk off, so I was glad he was gone." At that, every guy in the room shifted in their spot uncomfortably. "But, unless he's a jetsetter, he probably lives in this area. And, according to my contacts, he's still employed with Hammer Industries."

"Interesting," Scott commented. He looked up towards the ceiling in thought for a moment. He then nodded. "Well, we can play it two ways. Plan number one, we go to this bar, we wait around until he shows up, and we get him to let his guard down. Plan number two, we try to find his address and do a stakeout. Either way, we'll have to capture him and get some answers out of him."

"The bar is the safer bet, I think," Kitty spoke. "We can go to the bar and blend in. But depending on what neighborhood he lives in, driving through could put some unwanted attention on us."

"So I'm guessing we're using quick change outfits tonight?" Craig asked.

"I believe that would be best," Scott confirmed.

"So what do we do?" Betty asked.

Scott stared at Betty for some seconds. He took in a breath. "…I'm tempted to tell you guys to stay here. But we're on a trip together, and it'd be rather contradictory to our cover story if you three stay behind."

Ned smiled. "Does that mean…?"

"That means you're on a short leash," Craig interjected. "And it also means if anything goes left, you guys haul."

"We got it," MJ replied.

"I do have my laptop with me," Ned added. "I can stay in the SUV and be The Guy In The Chair, as per usual."

"I'll have Edith sync up with your laptop, in that case," I stated. "Between your VPN and Edith, you should be able to help from outside."

"Okay, we have one hour to get ready," Scott declared. "I expect you all at the vehicle at that time. Understood?"

"Crystal," Craig replied.

"Good."

An hour later, we were in the SUV heading for the bar. We had to make a short stop, though – we were in need of gas. So, when we pulled into the gas station, everyone but Joanna and I filed out. With my glasses on, I had Edith shutdown the station's surveillance system. After that, I quietly sat in the second row. Joanna was in the front passenger seat. After a couple of minutes of quiet, Joanna turned in her seat and looked at me.

"You can talk, you know?" she said with a smile.

I chuckled nervously. "Sorry," I apologized. "I guess I'm just focused on the mission."

"No worries. Um…" She tilted her head. "I have to ask, though. Are you a mutant?"

I shook my head. "I'm not."

She raised her eyebrows. "Interesting. So how did you end up as an X-Man?"

"…It's a long story." I went quiet for a bit. Joanna looked at me. She then raised her hands.

"Okay, I get it. I'm still the outsider here."

"It's not that. It's just…" I paused for a moment. "…When they found me, I was in a very, VERY bad place."

"Did it have to do with Mysterio?" Joanna inquired.

I nodded. "It had a lot to do with Mysterio. Because what of he did, I was in a situation that I handled very badly. I… I was trying my very best to pick up the pieces and stupid me thought that it would be best for everyone, myself included, if I just cut ties with everyone and self-isolate and… the X-Men helped showed me that it was the opposite of best, you know?" I paused again. "…Everyone you see here with me? They basically saved my life – figuratively and probably literally, too."

"A good support system is usually good for that," Joanna stated. "I know I don't know you that well, but I don't think someone has to be mad close to you to know that a New York without Spider-Man is a worse place." She gave me a smile, which I returned. "So, on a different note, what's Scott's deal? I feel like Craig's been pushing me towards him hard. Now that I'm complaining, but…"

"Scott hasn't dated anybody since he and his wife broke up," I replied. "I don't want to go into any details since it's not my place to say, and I just got the SparkNotes version of what happened. But I can say they split on very good terms."

"I see." Joanna nodded as she slowly looked off to the side in thought. "Good to know."

I smirked. "Do you like Scott? Like, you know, like-like."

She looked back at me and returned the smirk. "MAAAAYBE."

As she said that, the others returned. As Scott started pumping the gas, the rest of the American Idiots filed into the vehicle. MJ moved into the seat next to me. She then dumped a lot of protein bars into my lap, along with three bottles of Gatorade Fit and three cans of Celsius. I looked down at the stash, then at her.

"Eat, nerd," she ordered.

After the short stop at the gas station, we made our way to the bar. The place… it looked rather shady. It was a decently sized brick and mortar building with tinted windows. It was two stories. There was a balcony, where two scantily clad women danced suggestively to the rhythm of the song that was blaring from inside. The only sign I saw was a neon sign that portrayed a martini glass and a music note.

"What is this place called, anyway?" Scott asked.

"It's just called The Bar," Joanna replied. "Not exactly the most brilliant name, I know."

We pulled into the parking lot. There were people on the outside in the line to get in. All of us X-Men were in quick change outfits with our masks tucked away. Joanna, for her part, was dressed in pair of tight fitting jeans, a black halter top, and a pair of black flats. Betty wore a navy blue evening gown. MJ wore the same clothes she was wearing during the meeting in Scott's motel room.

As Scott cut the ignition to the SUV, Ned had his laptop ready. Craig handed small communicators to everyone, and I used Edith to synch them all as we put the communicators in our respective ears. Ned passed around his laptop once he had Doug Johnson's picture up. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He had quite the lantern jaw. In this picture, he had a smirk on his face. Honestly, he reminded me of B.J. Blazkowicz, minus the scar.

"That's him," Joanna confirmed. "I already made arrangements for us to have a table. It's not VIP, but it'll get us inside quickly."

"Can't ask for much more," Scott replied. "Once we're inside, we'll keep our eyes open for Doug. Then we'll work from there. Preferably, I'd like to isolate him and get him to talk."

Joanna tapped her chin with her index finger as she pondered. "Um, isolating him won't be too hard, I don't think." She looked at us. "Doug's been fiending to get in my pants. Let's make him think he'll get his fix. When I see him, I can charm him. And when I get him alone, we can corner him."

"…Okay, where are we going to corner him at?" I asked. Everyone else looked at me with a slight glare. I glared at them back. "I'm sorry, do I look like someone who goes to a bar or nightclub?"

Kitty sighed as she shook her head. "The bathroom, sweetie. We'll be cornering him in the bathroom."

I blushed as I looked down at my lap. MJ patted my shoulder consolingly.

"It's not your fault Peter," she cooed gently. "Not everybody is willing to have sex in public places like Ned and Betty."

"Dude!" Ned exclaimed as Betty gave MJ a glare. Craig covered his mouth with his hand as he tried to hold back his laughter.

"Are you sure you want to go that route, Joanna?" Scott asked. "I don't mind going with that plan, but I don't want you to do something you're not comfortable with."

Joanna looked at Scott and gave him an earnest smile. "I appreciate your concern, but I wouldn't have suggested it if I wasn't down." She then leaned over and whispered into Scott's ear and whispered. "Besides, it takes a lot to get on this ride, and you're the only one with the ticket." I don't think anyone else could hear it, but I heard it clearly. She pulled away and winked at Scott, leaving him with a blank expression. He then cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Well, it's settled. Let's go inside. Cover identities from here on out, okay?"

"Got it," I replied. I then patted Ned on the shoulder. "Don't get too bored."

"I won't," he assured. "Let's just get this guy."

We made our way out of the car. Following Joanna, we made our way to the front of the bar. After a small chat with the bouncer, we were let in. We were met by a hostess up front, who led us to our table. As I had Edith scrub footage of us, I looked around and scoped the place out. It was dimly lit by lamps hanging from the ceiling. The air smelled like alcohol and tobacco. As we moved through the crowd, I noticed a lot of people giving us looks of interest. I didn't know how to feel about that – I was still amazed that I managed to have MJ as my girlfriend. I still wasn't used to being desired.

On the walls were random murals. I came to a stop when I saw a mural of myself – Spider-Man – with the word "Murderer" branded on my chest. Suddenly, I didn't want to be here. I felt someone nudge me in the shoulder. I turned my head to see MJ smiling at me.

"Whoever painted that is definitely not earning an art scholarship," she commented.

I raised my eyebrows briefly. "Yeah, but he definitely feels some type of way about Spider-Man."

At that, MJ scoffed. "Fuck 'em."

I chuckled as we walked to catch up with the others. We ended up at a round table. As we took our seats, I used Edith to search through the surveillance system to find anyone that looked like Doug. But, there was no luck.

"How long are we going to be here for?" I asked.

"Probably one or two o'clock in the morning," Scott replied. "It could be a while." He looked at Joanna. "Are you sure he'll be here?"

"My contacts are rarely wrong, Erik," Joanna assured. "And even when they are, they're only slightly off. He'll be here."

"So what do we until then?" Betty asked.

Joanna smirked. "Well… when in Rome…" She waved down a passing waitress. "Sweetheart, would you kindly get us a round Coke and Hennessy." The waitress nodded before she walked away.

"Tempo, sweetie," Scott whispered. "Need I remind you that – "

"We're blending in, aren't we?" Joanna leaned in and rubbed her shoulder against Scott's. "It's going to look a bit suspicious if we're at this table all night. Let's all have drinks and have some fun as we keep our eyes open."

"She kind of has a point," Ned added, his voice sounding only slight distorted from over our communication devices. "Even with me and Edith, spreading out and having more eyes covering the ground couldn't hurt."

Scott paused for a moment. He then nodded. "Fine," he conceded. As the waitress returned with our drinks, he held up his index finger. "But only one drink, you hear me?"

Joanna gave him a grimace. "You're going to be that guy?"

"Yes I am."

"Okay, Bloodsport," Craig snarked. The waitress placed our drinks in front of us. After we gave her our thanks, Craig grabbed his glass and raised it. "To the safe rescue of Carmilla."

"To the hell we'll probably have to both go through and unleash for that to happen," Joanna added as she raised her glass.

Betty raised hers. "To the extra cramming for finals I'll have to do after this adventure," she stated.

"To the X-Men kicking Scorpion and Hammer's asses next time we get our hands on them," Kitty chimed in, raising her glass well.

"To the aneurysm Jonah's going to have when that happens," Ned chuckled over through our communication devices.

"To being the girlfriend to both the dorkiest and most wonderful guy I know," MJ said, raising her glass as she smiled at me.

Finally, I raised my glass. "…To finally feeling like I have all of the pieces picked up off of the ground."

We brought our glasses together as we all muttered a nigh-collective "Cheers". I then took a sip. I grimaced a bit. MJ laughed as she leaned against me. All of the others drank their respective drinks with no problems. Deciding to suck it up, I downed the rest of the drink before I placed the glass down.

"Alright, let's split up," Scott said. "Tempo you're with me – shut the hell up Clayton – Michel, stick with Mary. And Reine and Clayton, you two stick with Elizabeth. I'm pretty sure Roderick would appreciate it."

"Got it, Mr. Le Roux," Craig replied as he pulled out a few bills and dropped them on the table. "Let's make moves." At this point, a song started to play. Craig smiled as he stood up. "Ah man, they're playing a song from ho-, er, I mean… South Florida." It took me a moment to realize that Craig forgot that we're supposed to be from Houston. I gave him a pointed look, but listened to the song anyway.

"What is this?" I asked.

He smiled at me. "I'm So High by Grind Mode."

"Dance with me nerd," MJ demanded as she stood up and grabbed my hand. She pulled me up to my feet and dragged me to a spot on the floor that wasn't occupied by people that were already dancing. She moved to the beat, and I soon followed suit. Using Edith, I kept tabs on the others by way of the security system, having her scrub the footage when I felt the need to. Joanna and Scott were off to the side, speaking with each other and looking like they were having a good time in each other's company. Craig, Kitty, and Betty were dancing off to the side, just enjoying the music. This left me to multitask – to both have a good time with MJ and try to stay on the lookout. This was hard considering that MJ had her back against the front of my body as she grinded against me. I froze for a moment. MJ grabbed my hands and placed them on my hips.

"Move with me, will you?" she encouraged. I took in a breath.

"Edith, please alert me if anyone matching Doug's description is seen on surveillance," I ordered.

"Will do, Michelangelo," Edith replied. "While I have you here, do I have to be concerned about your rising heartrate?"

I cleared my throat. "No, I'm good, Edith."

I focused on dancing with MJ. As the songs continued to play – from 90's/2000's R hits like Say My Name and Jumpin' Jumpin' by Destiny's Child, to more modern EDM songs like Revolution by Diplo, and even Afrobeats tunes like Peru by Fireboy DML – MJ and I continued to dance with no space between us. I couldn't help but think of how quickly we'd get reprimanded, if not kicked out, for dancing the way we were if this was a Midtown High function. But, for the most part, I didn't care. I was enjoying my time with MJ. The more we dance, the bolder I got as I my hands roamed her body, though I made sure not to get TOO brave with my exploration. At one point, I started kissing the side of her neck as she gently held my head against her shoulder.

We eventually took a break, sitting back at our table. She leaned against me and had her head on my shoulder.

"So, was it the alcohol that got you all touchy-feely, or do I bring that side out of you?" MJ asked in a mischievous tone.

I gave it a bit of thought. I then tilted my head briefly. "You know what?" I replied. "I think it may be both. But considering how quickly my body can metabolize alcohol, I'd say it's more of the latter."

"So you can't get drunk?"

"Not even if I wanted. I know this because I tried once."

MJ raised her head and looked at me. "…When?"

"It was two weeks or so after the You-Know-What." Of course, I was referring to The Spell. "I had a particularly bad night of patrolling. I had to deal with this one idiot who think 5G towers are part of some worldwide conspiracy. So, of course he drove up to this tower in a truck fitted with enough C4 to make Fiona from Burn Notice rethink her life decisions. I couldn't disarm it in time, so I had to drive this truck through the streets of New York and send it off a harbor. I dived out of the car before it went over, but it exploded before it could hit the water."

"I remember that," MJ stated. "There wasn't any footage, but the witnesses were surprised you weren't dead."

"So was I," I replied. I frowned. "I remember hiding out until I could heal enough to swing home. Once I did, I had to stitch myself up. It was painful. All I could think of was how I missed everyone and how'd they help me if they were there. So, I grabbed the cup of moonshine I was using as disinfectant – I 'confiscated' it from a mafia-ran hideout – and I downed the whole thing, trying to drown my sorrows. All that happened was me wondering if my urine would be flammable."

MJ raised her eyebrows. "Um, full disclosure, you didn't…?"

I scoffed. "No, MJ, I did not try to pee over an open flame."

"That'd be one interesting way to improvise a flamethrower, though."

"If by interesting, you mean painful, then I agree."

"I'm sorry to interrupt everyone," Edith spoke up. I turned my head off to the right. "There are a group of seven men who just entered. They're making their way to the bar. One of them matches the picture shown on Ned's laptop. I do believe it is Doug Johnson III." I looked towards the bar. Sure enough, a group of six muscular men were making their way to the bar, dressed in jeans and white t-shirts.

"Oh would you look at that," Craig commented. "If 'Vitamins and Prayers' was people."

"Wouldn't that be Hulk Hogan?" Ned pointed out.

"There is a list of Hulks and and list of Hogans I acknowledge. Hulk Hogan is not on either one of them."

"Looks like it's time for me to do my thing," Joanna stated. There was a pause for a moment. "Erik, don't look at me like that. I'll be fine. Just, stick to the plan, okay?"

"Okay Tempo," Scott said quietly. "Just… be careful."

"You know I will. Anyway, let's see if I can get this guy to charm me."

I felt MJ's hand wrap around my own. I looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile. I then looked forward and watched the surveillance footage. Joanna walked up to the bar and took a seat. It didn't take long for her to get their attention.

"Hey guys, look at what we got here!" one of them stated with absolutely no tact.

"Looks like we got ourselves a tall drink of water!" another one replied.

"Men," Kitty commented with a sigh.

"Well, excuse us!" Ned replied.

I didn't say anything. I just continued to focus on the footage. Finally, Doug spoke up.

"Hey, why don't you let me buy you a drink?" he offered.

"Tempting," Joanna stated. "But I only drink with those who can go on this ride with no issues."

"Oh, I'm more than fit for that ride. Problem is, once I go on it, I'll make sure it's closed down for a while."

"…This guy's game is almost worse than Flash's," Betty commented. At that, I had to smother a snicker.

"Is that right?" Joanna responded to Doug. "Well let's skip the pleasantries. If you can break me off something proper, then I'll buy you and your whole crew a round. And then we can leave and really go on a rollercoaster." At that, I blushed, because Good Lord!

"You're on!" Doug grunted out. "You want to take it to the parking lot or…"

"If you're as good as you say you are, then I shouldn't be able to walk too far."

At that, Doug chuckled. "Alright, bathroom it is."

I watched as Doug and Joanna stood up from the bar and made their way to the bathroom. Edith, without asking, changed cameras, switching to a feed that showed the bathroom area. Joanna and Doug slipped into the men's bathroom. About thirty seconds later, two of Doug's entourage was standing outside of the door, keeping watch.

"Alright, baby, I'm going to show you what Big Doug is working with!" Doug boasted.

"You know, as appealing as that sounds, I'm more interested in why Big Doug is working for Hammer all the way out here," Joanna replied.

"…Um, what?" Doug muttered out.

I heard a crash over the audio, followed by the sound of something being dunked in some water. After some seconds, there was a sound of something being slammed, followed by some gurgling.

"I know who you work for Doug," Jade muttered threateningly. "The people I'm currently working for have some questions. You're going to answer them."

"I don't know shit!" Doug replied with a strained breath.

"…Well, you never were that smart."

I heard the sound of a slap followed by some moments of silence. After that, Joanna spoke up. "So, Doug is out cold. How's it looking out there?"

"There are two men outside the door, and I'm sure his friends that are still at the bar are ready to move in." I sighed. "How do you want to play this, Erik?"

There was a brief silence. Then there was a sigh. "…Reine, I need you to get Temp and Doug out of there," Erik ordered. "Clayton, Reine will need a distraction."

"Got it," Craig replied.

I watched from the security footage as Craig approached the bathroom. As expected, he was stopped by one of the men.

"Sorry, bathroom is occupied," the man said.

"Look man, I'm just trying to deliver some of Granny's peach tea," Craig responded in protest.

"And I'm telling you, kid, this bathroom is occupied."

"I ain't got time for this, bro. You either let me through, or I'm pissing right here."

"You wouldn't dare," the other man said. "Get out of here before you get folded." And then, for good measure, he stepped forward and shoved Craig. Craig was forced to take a step back. He then chuckled as he nodded. Before the larger man could react, Craig sent a kick in between his legs. As the man buckled, the other guy tried to grab Craig. Craig was quicker though, turning before he cracked the larger man in the face with a rather nasty looking forearm, knocking him to the ground. Craig huffed out a breath before he looked over his shoulder. He then casually stepped aside. From off screen, I saw other bodies slide into a heap as if they all slipped on ice.

"Guys, I got Tempo and Doug out of there," Kitty spoke over the frequency. "We need to move now."

"I'll meet you guys out front," Craig muttered. "I need to dip." He ran off. I looked towards the bar to see him hop over the counter and run into the back. During this, Betty quickly walked up to me and MJ.

"You guys ready to go?" Betty asked.

"Let's go," I stated.

We all made our exits, meeting Scott at the front door as I ordered Edith to delete any recorded footage the bar has and to shut down the whole surveillance system until we were gone. By the time we made our way to the SUV and entered it, Craig was already in the driver's seat, Kitty was right behind him next to Ned, and Joanna was in the back. MJ and I took the seats in Joanna's row. Scott took shotgun as Betty took the seat next to Ned. I looked over my shoulder to see Doug's prone body. Not wanting to take any chances, I turned my body until I was on my knees. I brought my right hand out and shot a burst of webbing towards Doug, webbing him down. I then sat back down. During this, Craig started the SUV before he sped out the parking lot. Once we hit the open road, Joanna spoke up.

"So, whereto?" she asked.

"I think I saw an abandoned gas station on our way here," Betty spoke up. "I think it is… or was… a Vons."

"Is that right?" Scott replied. He then nodded. "Let's take him there."